The rifle of the Servian army is the Mauser, model of 1899, with a caliber of 7 millimeters, but it is doubtful if Servia possessed enough of them to arm the reserves.  The Servian field piece is a quick-firing gun of the French Schneider-Canet system.  The army has some 350 modern guns.

At the outbreak of the war Servia had ten of the most modern aircraft, but she had not developed their efficiency to a degree at which they would be of much material benefit to her in the struggle.

The extremely mountainous nature of Servia and of the adjacent territory of Bosnia make military movements somewhat slow and difficult, especially for troops unaccustomed to mountain warfare.  Compared with this mountainous region, the district of Agram, where one Austrian army corps had its headquarters, is easy country to operate in, while the plain of Hungary on the opposite side of the Danube made the task of concentrating troops an easy one for the Austrians.

Another Austrian army corps had its base at Serajevo in Bosnia.  A railway to the northeast from this Bosnian capital touches the Servian border at Mokragora.  To the north of this point lies Kragujevac, the new capital of Servia, to which King Peter, his court and the Government repaired from Belgrade just before the declaration of war.  Southeast of the new capital is the important Servian city of Nish.

The western frontier of Servia follows the windings of the Biver Drina, a tributary of the Danube.  The Danube itself forms part of the northern boundary and the former capital.  Belgrade, is picturesquely situated on the south bank of the Danube at its junction with a tributary.  Two Austrian fortresses command the city from across the Danube.  On the plain of Hungary to the north is Temesvar, an important point at which another Austrian army corps was located.

CHANCES AGAINST SERVIA

At the outset the chances of war were heavily against Servia.  Such artificial defenses as she possessed were on the Bulgarian frontier.  Many of her troops were engaged in endeavoring to establish Servian rule among the neighboring peoples in her new Albanian possessions.  Austria was prepared to bring against her immediately the three army corps from Temesvar, Serajevo and Agram, and four more corps, from Hermanstadt, Budapest, Graz, and Kaschau, within a fortnight.  Servians one hope appeared to be the difficulty of the country, otherwise she could not oppose for a moment the advance of 250,000 troops supported by pieces of artillery.  Then, too, Austria had warships on the Danube and it was partly through this fact that it was decided by the Servian Government to evacuate Belgrade and to retire to Kragujevac, sixty miles southeast.